Startup Diaries: Clocking Up Your Time

Founded by husband and wife team Paul and Lorraine White, The Hashtag emblem represents strength, confidence and individualism. Here, Lorraine offers further insight into the lessons she has learnt on her entrepreneurial journey.

Top
Tips for managing your time

Being
a new startup often means that you have limited resources and
limited funds.Time can appear to be the one commodity that you
have an abundance of, but the lack of the aforementioned items can
also mean that the time you have, though plentiful, is now stretched
across a number of tasks and before you know it so are you.

My
husband, Paul White and I started menswear fashion label Hashtag
Collective in 2012. Being a director and owner of a startup
means that you are responsible for making the strategic decisions and
dictating the direction in which to take the business, and you are
responsible for building a network to strengthen your business
connections. However, in the early days, being the owner and director
also means that you need to manage the day-to-day elements of the
business from PR to finance and IT, as well as administration.

It
becomes very important, therefore, to be able to find ways to
allocate your time wisely and to be as efficient as possible where
possible, as all areas of the business have their own importance and
can't be neglected.

Below
I list my top 5 tips for managing time in a start up:

1.
Prioritise

When
you get into the office there may well be a long list of tasks to be
attended to. From paying the next month’s rent to scheduling a
meeting with a potential client; both are clearly important, but
prioritising the urgent items first and then the lower priority items
thereafter means that you have a logical way to work through the ‘to
do’ list. At Hashtag Collective we tend to prioritise the aspects
of the business that will affect or impact our customers first.

2.
Don’t be afraid to delegate or outsource

As
a business owner, I know first hand, that your business is your
baby. We started Hashtag Collective organically from our living
room and we have grown it to the company that it is today.

When
you have nurtured a company from the start, delegation can be
difficult, as you may feel that no one else will do as good a job as
you will.

While that may be the case in some instances, you
might be surprised as to how much your team can support you if you
empower them to do so.We have found that sharing out small tasks and
building up to larger tasks is a good way to manage and approach
delegation.

3.
Organise yourself

It
seems simple, obvious even, but having a good system to organise
yourself saves so much time. A good online (and even physical) filing
system can save hours of trawling through documents, emails or files
when you are looking for a specific document. We tend to use
drop boxes and online diaries to manage ourselves.

4.
Take a ‘no nonsense’ approach

This
does not mean that you should be ruthless! What it does mean,
however, is that if something is not right for you or your business,
don’t be afraid to say no. This could save you wasted time in
the long run.

We
now always ensure we find out full details of any events or
opportunities and talk them through before deciding if it is right
for us and for Hashtag Collective.

5.
Have a cut-off point

Ensure
you make time for your personal life also. Know when your
working day ends and your personal time starts and be strict with
that.

Inevitably
when you run your own business, it will become all consuming and you
may find yourself answering emails in the middle of the night.

Find
ways to ensure that you can switch off and draw a line between
business and pleasure! We
have a ‘no-laptop-in-the-bedroom-rule’. This simple rule means
that we literally leave business at the bedroom door.

Adele Woodthorpe of Woodthorpe Comms first introduced us to Lorraine White of Hashtag Collective a new men’s fashion brand, that gives emerging designers and artists a place to showcase their talent, on the 11th July. Click here to read that article.

Adele Woodthorpe is the MD and founder of Woodthorpe Comms, the London-based luxury and lifestyle PR agency with an offering of targeted and strategic PR campaigns, social and digital media consulting and brand ambassador engagement. Adele graduated from The Surrey institute or Art and Design with a BA Hons in Fashion Promotion and Illustration. Passionate about brands and PR, nine years on she is running her own agency, with a team of five, based in Central London.

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startups to companies making millions. We provide access to capital, resources and networks,
offering our community a support infrastructure critical for success.

About TNW

The NextWomen is a community of Investors, Entrepreneurs & Advisers. We build formats to support the growth of female entrepreneurs -from
startups to companies making millions. We provide access to capital, resources and networks,
offering our community a support infrastructure critical for success. Join the community too! - See more at: http://www.thenextwomen.com/about-us/contributors#sthash.9GODHllB.dpuf

The NextWomen is a community of Investors, Entrepreneurs & Advisers. We build formats to support the growth of female entrepreneurs -from
startups to companies making millions. We provide access to capital, resources and networks,
offering our community a support infrastructure critical for success. Join the community too! - See more at: http://www.thenextwomen.com/membership/sign-up#sthash.0ApND3BW.dpuf

The NextWomen is
a community of Investors, Entrepreneurs & Advisers. We
build formats to support the growth of female entrepreneurs -from startups to
companies making millions. We provide access to capital, resources and
networks, offering our community a support infrastructure critical for success.